Financial Markets and Economy
Good Luck, Saudi Arabia, You're Going To Need It (Forbes)
Depending on your political preference, you either have to feel sorry for Saudi Arabia or savor the moment . The country’s four-decade run as global oil king is slipping through its fingers, and there’s not really much it can do to stop the slide.
Retail's Trump Rally Is More Hope Than Change (Bloomberg)
A curious thing is happening to America's struggling retailers: Shares in department stores and specialty retailers have bubbled up since Election Day, outperforming even the broader market, which keeps hitting all-time highs.
Copper Rises as Investors Bet on Growing Chinese Demand (The Wall Street Journal)
Copper futures resumed their climb on Tuesday, supported by predictions of greater demand from China and higher oil prices.
Mexico Set to Get $2.9 Billion Oil Hedge Windfall, IMF Says (Bloomberg)
Mexico is set to earn about $2.9 billion from its oil hedges for 2016, reaping a windfall from plummeting crude prices for a second straight year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Trump bump for stocks could end with market in the dumps (Market Watch)
The U.S. stock market has become even more overvalued in the two weeks since Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president.
What is TPP and why does it matter? (Financial Times)
The TPP trade pact was agreed by 12 countries in February and covers 40% of the global economy. But Donald Trump has said he will abandon it, leaving its other members looking at the alternatives.
Goldman: Hedge Funds Are Poised to Get Beaten for the Eighth Year Straight (Bloomberg)
The funds have averaged a 4 percent gain year-to-date, but that pales next to a 9 percent rally in the S&P 500. Barring a sharp turnaround before December 31, this will be the eighth year since 2008 that hedge funds have underperformed, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists including Ben Snider and David Kostin.
Goldman Quits R3 Blockchain Group, Other Banks Said Next (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has quit the R3 CEV LLC blockchain group, and other banks may soon follow it out the door, said people familiar with the venture, a sign the financial industry’s leading blockchain consortium may be splintering.
Feeling Manic? (Slope of Hope)
We have been talking about how bullish the US stock market is. It has been bullish uninterrupted for most of 2016 and that includes the Brexit buying opportunity. We then expected and got a test of major support.
Randgold CEO says gold is ready to go higher (CNBC)
Randgold's price initially soared on the panic surrounding Brexit, Bristow said, followed by confusion surrounding the outcome of the American presidential election. Thus, as the stock market continues to roar higher since President-elect Donald Trump's victory, the price of gold has been hit hard.
How global inequality changed from 2003 to 2013 and what we can expect for the future (Our World In Data)
The following visualisation shows global income inequality in 2003 and 2013. The data shown here were carefully prepared by Tomas Hellebrandt and Paolo Mauro from the Bank of England and the IMF.
Here's everything on Neiman Marcus' must-have gift list for billionaires (Business Insider)
Neiman Marcus has released its 2016 Christmas Book, an annual collection of suggested gifts from the storied department store.
A Few Comments on October Existing Home Sales (Calculated Risk)
First, these October existing home sales closed escrow before the recent increase in mortgage rates (rates started increasing after the election). Also, the recent increase in mortgage rates will probably have little impact on November closed sales, since most of those sales were already in process.
Why Has Labor Force Participation Increased? (Economist's View)
Outside Looking In: Why Has Labor Force Participation Increased?: The labor force participation rate (LFPR) is an estimate of the share of the population actively engaged in the labor market.
Companies
'JPMorgan's attitude is of a criminal nature': Venezuela's president threatens legal action against US bankVenezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday ordered state oil company PDVSA to look into legal action against JPMorgan Chase & Co after the U.S. investment bank reported delays in $404 million in bond interest payments.
Beyond Bubbles: Dr. Pepper And Pepsi Spend Big To Diversify Outside Of Soda (Forbes)
With the November elections bringing the passage of five more soda taxes — San Francisco, Albany (CA), Oakland, Boulder and Cook County joined Philadelphia as cities with levies on sugar-sweetened drinks – the carbonated beverage environment has gotten even unfriendlier for soda purveyors like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper Snapple.
Dr Pepper Snapple, Pepsi buy drinks makers in bid to diversify (Reuters)
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc (DPS.N) and PepsiCo (PEP.N) on Tuesday both announced plans to buy alternative drinks makers, the latest examples of beverage companies branching into products perceived as healthier as soda sales decline.
Technology
These Are The Cities Where You Can Make The Most Money Renting Properties On Airbnb (Forbes)
7 years ago AirBnB was still offering only airbeds and shared spaces to its users and was competing with couchsurfer.com. Since then the company, lately valued at $30B, has expanded to a variety of properties including entire homes and apartments, private rooms, castles, boats, manors, tree houses, tipis, igloos, private islands and other properties, and it’s currently offering 2.3M listings on the platform.
Donald Trump and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos constantly butted against each other throughout the campaign, with Trump once warning that the e-commerce company would face "problems" if he became the president.
Meet The Millennials About To Transform The Mobile Tech Charging Business With The "Power Condom" (Forbes)
In a storage box on an upper shelf in my office are thirteen charging cords for my iPhone (not including the 12 volt ones for my car), representing exactly how many times I’ve forgotten my power cord running out the door over the past year and half.
Everything you need to know about Tesla's new solar business (Business Insider)
Tesla is no longer just an automaker.
Although the company has always offered energy storage options, like its Powerwall and Powerpack, Tesla has officially solidified itself as a player in the energy space by acquiring SolarCity in a deal worth roughly $2 billion.
The new Tesla is powering an entire island with solar energy (Business Insider)
SolarCity, the company Tesla officially acquired on Monday, is powering nearly the entire island of Ta’u in American Samoa with solar power.
Our Favorite Gadgets: Best Tech Gifts 2016 (The Wall Street Journal)
Celebrate the holidays with a better future. With the right gadget gift, you can bring home some long-promised tech leaps, from virtual reality to Wi-Fi that actually works. Here’s what we’d actually buy for our loved ones—or ourselves.
With Digital Key, Volvo Owners Can Let Others Service — Or Even Borrow — Their Car (Forbes)
Volvo Cars is testing a new smartphone app that would let owners order concierge services such as remote fuel delivery, valet car cleaning and Volvo maintenance while they’re working, traveling or even sleeping.
Politics
Donald Trump’s Foundation Engaged in Self-Dealing, IRS Filing Shows (The Wall Street Journal)
President-elect Donald Trump’s charitable foundation engaged in self-dealing in 2015 and prior years, the foundation said in an Internal Revenue Service filing.
How Donald Trump's New Campaign Chief Created an Online Haven for White Nationalists (Mother Jones)
Last week, when Donald Trump tapped the chairman of Breitbart Media to lead his campaign, he wasn't simply turning to a trusted ally and veteran propagandist.
‘I’d Rather Do the Popular Vote,’ Trump Says: NYT (Bloomberg)
"I think we’d do as well or better" if presidency was chosen through popular vote, President-elect Donald Trump says in interview with New York Times journalists underway now, according to reporters tweeting from meeting.
Here’s Why You Should Call, Not Email, Your Legislators (NY Times)
Kara Waite, an English teacher at Bunker Hill Community College in Charlestown, Mass., made a rule for herself: For every political rant she posts on Facebook, she must pick up the phone and call a legislator.
A look inside the immigration detention system Trump wants to expand (Think Progress)
President-elect Donald Trump’s upset election victory last week upended hopes from immigrant advocates that the practice of keeping immigrant detainees in for-profit detention facilities will become a thing of the past.
Legal Marijuana Poses New Problems For Employee Drug Testing (The Wall Street Journal)
A raft of new state marijuana legalization laws presents employers with hazy challenges when it comes to workplace drug testing.
Washington Won't Have Last Word on Climate Change (Bloomberg)
China is America’s largest trading partner, and the U.S. is the largest partner for China. And while it’s true that our two countries have differences, we know that when we work together, we can accomplish extraordinary things. Cooperation between the U.S. and China, after all, is what made the Paris climate agreement possible.
Farewell, America (Moyers And Company)
America died on Nov. 8, 2016, not with a bang or a whimper, but at its own hand via electoral suicide. We the people chose a man who has shredded our values, our morals, our compassion, our tolerance, our decency, our sense of common purpose, our very identity — all the things that, however tenuously, made a nation out of a country.
Among democracies, U.S. stands out in how it chooses its head of state (Pew Research Center)
Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election this month – in particular, his winning a clear majority of the Electoral College vote despite receiving nearly 1.3 million fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton – prompted readers of another Pew Research Center Fact Tank post to wonder how the U.S. system compares with the way other countries elect their leaders.
Life on the Home Planet
The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a license to France's Airbus for the sale of 106 commercial planes to Iran Air, Iran's flagship carrier, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Officers douse pipeline protesters in subfreezing weather (AP, Houston Chronicle)
Authorities on Monday defended their decision to douse protesters with water during a skirmish in subfreezing weather near the Dakota Access oil pipeline, and organizers said at least 17 protesters were taken to the hospital – including some who were treated for hypothermia.
Most Students Don’t Know When News Is Fake, Stanford Study Finds (The Wall Street Journal)
Preteens and teens may appear dazzlingly fluent, flitting among social-media sites, uploading selfies and texting friends. But they’re often clueless about evaluating the accuracy and trustworthiness of what they find.
Disney is looking to repeat the opening-weekend success of "The Force Awakens" with its first ever "Star Wars" standalone movie, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story."
